Clardy v. Your Hometown Movers LLC

Background

Raymond Clardy and Imani Armstrong brought this action for themselves and other similarly situated employees against Your Hometown Movers LLC, doing business as Your Hometown Movers, and Jake Freedman and Kate Freedman. The complaint asserted claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York Labor Law.

The plaintiffs worked as movers and truck drivers, referred to in the opinion as “Laborers.” They alleged that they were not paid for preliminary work before leaving the defendants’ facility, that the defendants deducted one-hour meal breaks even when no break was provided, and that they were sometimes not paid for all route time. They also alleged that they often worked more than 40 hours per week without receiving the required time-and-a-half overtime pay. The defendants did not oppose the motion.

Conditional Certification

The plaintiffs asked the court to conditionally certify an FLSA collective action consisting of current and former Laborers who alleged that they were not paid in compliance with the FLSA’s overtime provisions. At this early stage, the court required only a modest factual showing that other employees might be similarly situated concerning whether an FLSA violation occurred.

The court concluded that the complaint and the plaintiffs’ declarations suggested a common policy of understating, underpaying, or failing to pay overtime. The court therefore conditionally certified a collective action of all current and former Laborers of Your Hometown Movers LLC who alleged that they were not paid in compliance with the FLSA’s overtime provisions. The court stated that the defendants could later seek decertification if further facts showed that participating employees were not actually similarly situated.

Notice and Employee Information

The court approved the proposed notice and consent forms. It also approved distributing them by mail, email, and text message, as well as posting them at the defendants’ physical location where potential participants could see them.

The court granted the plaintiffs’ request for employee information. It ordered the defendants to provide by October 15, 2024, a computer-readable list of all movers and truck drivers employed by Your Hometown Movers LLC at any point during the six years before the lawsuit was filed. The list had to include each person’s name, last known mailing address, alternate address if any, known telephone numbers, email address, and employment dates.

Disposition

Judge Nelson S. Roman granted the plaintiffs’ motion for conditional certification. The order approved the notice and consent forms as to their content and distribution methods and entered the employee-information production requirement. The order addressed whether the case could proceed collectively and related notice and information requests; it did not decide whether the alleged wage violations actually occurred.